News Roundup: R.I.P. Mary Travers, Mountain Goats on Colbert, Read-N-Rock-N-Roll Ya Variety Show at Housing Works Tomorrow
--Mary Travers, the star and siren of folk's Peter, Paul and Mary, died yesterday. Though the Times obit is weirdly fixated on the beards of the two men that usually flanked her, Pete Yarrow and Paul Stookey, Travers was the consensus star of the group--her voice was at the center of everything they did. And though the trio's music holds up somewhat indifferently to these ears, give Travers and her bandmates credit for being on the right side of history: Peter, Paul and Mary performed at the 1963 March on Washington, were in Selma and Montgomery in '65, did benefits for Cesar Chavez, and were arrested in front of South African Embassy protesting against apartheid. Travers stayed both politically and musically active up until her death, at 72, from complications related to leukemia. It was a life to be proud of.
Travers with Dylan and Donovan.
--The Mountain Goats, whose Life of the World to Come is a big gut-wrenching fall gift, basically, will perform on the Colbert Report on Tuesday, October 6th, the same day the record comes out. A sit-down interview is "almost definitely happening," according to the internet's currency du jour this week, a reliable source. In anticipation, the Colbert Report will be streaming the record starting on September 29. Couldn't be more excited about this.
--Tomorrow night, Housing Works will host a Read-N-Rock-N-Roll Ya Variety Show slated to feature Mr. T Experience singer turned King Dork writer Frank Portman, reading from his new novel, Andromeda Klein, along with a host of others: MC Chris, Harper's' Paul Ford, Jennifer Sky Band, Total Slacker, the comedy writer Julie Klausner, and of course the band that is currently killing Brooklyn lo-fi as if it were a deranged bull that needed to be put down, Mr. Dream. 8pm, $5 at the door. #ripbrooklynlofi.
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